ONE Fight Night 36: Prajanchai vs. Di Bella II Preview and Predictions

ONE Championship is back at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium this Friday, Oct. 3, with a pretty stacked card of kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA and submission grappling. The main event is a rematch between Prajanchai PK Saenchai and Jonathan Di Bella to unify the ONE strawweight kickboxing championship.

In the co-main event former ONE MMA champ-champ Aung La N Sang will take on Zebaztian Kadestam in what the ‘Burmese Python’ claims is the last fight of his long career. The card also has a dynamite kickboxing match-up between Kongthoranee and Aslamjon Oritkov.

The event airs live on Amazon Prime Video starting at 9 p.m. ET. Let’s take a look at the preview and predictions.

The strawweight kickboxing championship is currently not unified; will Prajanchai be able to defeat Jonathan Di Bella for a second time to claim undisputed gold?

Prajanchai first met Jon Di Bella in June last year. These two put on a five-round war for Di Bella’s ONE strawweight kickboxing title. Prajanchai won that night by decision, giving Di Bella his first pro defeat. Prajanchai has won six fights in a row since then. Di Bella has been successful since that defeat, too, earning the interim strawweight kickboxing title.

Di Bella will now be keen to avenge his loss while unifying the belts.

I think it could be tough for him to do that, though. He gave Prajanchai some of his best shots early in the first fight, but Prajanchai was able to weather them and then turn it on in the later rounds, making good use of his fast and slick countering, to earn the decision.

I think we’re heading for another decision between these two, with Prajanchai using his countering, power and intelligence to go 2-0 against Di Bella.

Aslamjon Ortikov is making his debut under the main ONE banner; can he hand Kongthoranee Sor Sommai his second loss in a row?

Aslamjon Ortikov has been excellent on ONE Friday Fights, racking up seven wins and getting victories over names like Yodthongthai and Pompetch. He’s been promoted onto the big show here and that hasn’t come with an easy assignment.

Kongthoranee is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Nong-O, which was a rematch after he won the first fight by split decision. He’s 15-3 under ONE’s Muay Thai banner.

Kongthoranee is the more experienced fighter here and he’s got a lot more ringcraft than Oritkov. I think Oritkov’s pace and aggression can make up for that, though.

This fight feels like it could go to a decision. And if that happens, Kongthoranee’s experience might help him piece together a win for the judges. However, I think if Oritkov doesn’t finish this, there’s a good chance he hurts Kongthoranee enough down the stretch that it’s hard to not give him the nod.

Aung La N Sang has publicly declared that this is his last fight; how does he fare in his retirement contest?

Aung La N Sang has been a fantastic servant to ONE Championship. With how long he’s been in the game, his fighting style and how successful he’s been you have to believe that he’s had some offers to fight elsewhere over the years.

All that loyalty has not translated into a lay-up for his supposed retirement fight, though. Zebaztian Kadestam is on a three-fight winning streak. In his last fight, he knocked out Roberto Soldic. That was back in 2023, though.

N Sang has been more active lately. He’s fought twice in the time that Kadestam has been out. However, he lost both those fights to Shamil Erdogan by TKO and KO, respectively. Most recently, in February, he was stopped with a head kick after just 28 seconds.

I think I’d rather be rusty than coming off two brutal stoppages.

N Sang has been a great fighter over the years, but at 40 years old, I think he’s too slow to defend himself against Kadestam.

I see this being a short and violent night for the former champ.

Which fight is the sleeper match-up on this card?

Sanzhur Zakirov, out of Uzbekistan, is another great example of MMA exploding in that part of the world right now. Fighters from ‘the Stans’ are popping up in every major promotion now and Zakirov could be one of the better ones out there. He’s just 22 years old and sports a 13-0 record with four fights in ONE Championship.

He’s got high-powered wrestling, powerful striking and a lot of athleticism. He meets Yong Hu on Friday.

Hu is a 29 year-old journeyman with a 13-6 record. He’s coming off a loss and giving up a lot of size to Zakirov.

I don’t think this is a sleeper fight because it’s going to be a close bout. I just think Zakirov is a must-see prospect and I think he’s going to impress, again, on Friday night.